It was after midnight before Lexie was finally able to leave the hospital. It had been an exhausting day both physically and emotionally. Lexie wanted to just let go of everything, to go back to the simple life she had before, before Mark had come along and turned her world upside down. She could still remember the way he looked at her, like someone he could see himself growing old with and sharing his secrets with. She missed that and more importantly she missed him. No. She had to snap out of it. She had to realize that she and Mark would probably never be able to repair the damage that had been done. The thoughts continued to echo as she arrived at Meredith's and crashed on the bed Meredith set up for her in the attic. She was officially moving backwards. Back to the Meredith's, back to the attic, and back to being alone.

Derek sat in his office, finishing up some paperwork when he heard a light knock.

"Hey" he said, seeing Mark in the doorway, "Come on in."

"Hey man, what are you still doing here? I figured you would be heading home to Meredith by now." Mark asked.

"Yeah, just some last minute legal stuff. Besides, I figured Meredith had her hands full with Lexie." Derek mentally slapped himself. "Sorry, I know you don't want to talk about it."

"No, actually I do." Mark replied, "Derek, I just want to know how she's doing. I need to know."

"Why?" Derek asked.

"Look, I'm losing my mind here, okay? I miss her. I think I took her for granted and now…I don't know. I just…I need her to just come home." Mark told him.

"Why don't you tell her all that yourself?" Derek said.

"I have tried. She won't even look at me, let alone talk to me at all. I need your help." Mark said.

"How on earth can I help?" Derek said laughing.

"Well how did you get Meredith to forgive you after she found out you were married?" Mark asked.

"You just gotta keep apologizing until she listens and realizes you aren't going anywhere." Derek explained.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be sure that Lexie knows that." Mark said, determined.

"Good luck." Derek said as Mark left the room.

The next day, Lexie arrived early for rounds. She decided to just go about her business like usual and maybe somewhere along the line, it would get easier. She continued with her rountine and reported to Dr. Yang for her assignment.

"Three, what do you want?" Cristina asked coldly.

"I need to know where you want me today. Whose service am I on?" Lexie asked nervously.

"Oh, you know what, I don't have time for this. I have a heart transplant coming in and I'm not missing the chance to scrub in so…just…go to Plastics." Cristina said.

"What? Plastics?" Lexie asked, starting to panic, "Are you sure? I mean, wouldn't you rather-"

"Three, didn't I say I didn't have time for this. Just go to Plastics, okay. Far, far, away from me." Cristina said with a wave of her hand.

Lexie sighed. This is exactly what she prayed wouldn't happen. Whatever. It was too late to do anything about it now. With that, she straightened her shoulders, sighed, and started to muster up the courage to walk directly into the lion's den. She could do this. After all, it was work, just work. She could do this. She would be the bigger person and do this without showing any weakness. Slowly she approached the nurses' station where Mark was looking through a stack of charts.

"So it looks like I'm with you today." Lexie said.

Mark looked up and at first thought he should make sure he wasn't seeing things. He couldn't help but smile. Even though she was only with him because she was assigned to his service, it was better than not seeing her at all.

"Well, I'm glad. I've actually been meaning to-"

"No." Lexie said, cutting him off, "We are not using this time to talk or share our feelings. I can't do this now and I definitely can't do this here, okay?"

"Okay" Mark said calmly, "But I'm not going anywhere and I'm not giving up."

Lexie grabbed Mark by the arm and pulled him into the nearest on-call room. There was no way she was having this discussion in front of the entire hospital.

"What are you saying?" Lexie asked.

"I'm saying you're the one. And even if I have to apologize a million times or spend the rest of my life alone, I'm gonna prove to you that there is no one else." Mark told her.

"But Addison-" Lexie started.

"Was a one-time mistake. I'm sorry that I did it and I'm sorry that you had to hear about it, but I'm still in love with you. I have been ever since you recited the periodic table to me. It hasn't gone away and it kills me because I can't touch you or talk to you or even just be with you. And I know I'm to blame. I know it's my fault , but Lex, I love you."

"Mark, I-" Lexie tried.

"No, it's okay. I understand that you can't forgive me but it doesn't change how I feel and I just needed you to know that." he said as he reached for the doorknob.

"No, wait." Lexie said as she grabbed his hand. It was the first time she had touched him in days and he felt like he might not be able to keep himself from kissing her.

"It's okay." she continued.

"What?" Mark asked. He needed to be sure he was hearing correctly.

"It's okay." she said again, "I'm letting you off the hook. I forgive you."

Mark wasted no time grabbing Lexie and kissing her madly and deeply. He felt like what had been taken had been restored, he was finally whole again. He was sure he would do whatever it took to make sure she wasn't taken from him again.

"Wait." Lexie said, breaking away from him.

"What? What is it?" Mark asked concerned.

"I said that I forgive you, but it doesn't mean that anything is different. We still can't be together. Things aren't okay between us." Lexie explained.

"What? Lexie, come on. I'm going crazy here." Mark said.

"I understand that, I do, and I'm sorry for that, but I have to do what's right for me right now and I can't risk it again okay? It hurt too badly last time." Lexie told him.

"There's not going to be a next time, Lex." he said, "I'm never going to hurt you like that again."

"I know you're not. Because I'm not giving you the chance, Mark. I'm not going to go there again. I forgive you for what you did but that doesn't mean that I can forget it. It still hurts and I would be lying if I said it was fine and everything was going to okay. It isn't okay" Lexie said, trying desperately not to cry.

"You can't be serious. I know you still love me, Lex." Mark tried.

"You're right, I do love you and I probably always will. And if it works out in the future, great, but, right now I'm not your girlfriend and you're not my boyfriend. I'm your intern and you are my attending. That's it, nothing more." Lexie said as she walked out the door.

Her words cut Mark like a knife. He figured he would play along. Fine If that was what she wanted then that's what he would do. He wasn't giving up that easily. He was going to make her see that he was a changed man, a better man, and it was because of her. Meanwhile, on her way to the lab, Lexie couldn't help but think about the things Mark had said to her. Could he be serious? Part of her wanted to believe him, say everything was fine, and jump into his arms. But the other part of her, the logical part, knew it couldn't be that easy. She was waiting for some kind of sign, something to tell her that she was doing the right thing. Lexie turned the corner, still deep in thought, when she crashed into Meredith.

"God Mer, I'm so sorry. I didn't even see you." Lexie apologized as she helped Meredith gather the charts that fel on the floor.

"I see that. Are you okay?" she asked. Right as Lexie was about to answere, Meredith's pager went off.

"It's Bailey. 911. We'll talk later?" Meredith said as she took off.

"Sure." Lexie called after her, "Later."

Lexie decided the best thing to do would be to continue her job and forget the rest for today. She could deal with her complications later. Right now she just wanted to focus on the one thing in her life she could count on, medicine. The rest she could figure out later. Much later.